Donetsk, June 04 (Navigator, Mikhail Shalyapin) – The mass exodus of residents continues in Donetsk. The latest news from Slavyansk and Krasny Liman only increased the fears of Donetsk residents for their lives. People are trying to leave Donetsk in any way, and the most “popular” route is by rail.
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Queues line up near the station ticket office from 8 a.m., that is, from the moment it opens, until 22 p.m. Pre-sales cash registers are also operating at maximum capacity. Tickets are sold out in all directions: Kyiv, Minsk, Moscow, Dnepropetrovsk, Crimea, etc.
The photograph shows a train in the direction “Donetsk – Moscow”. In normal times, its load with Donetsk passengers at this time of year was 15-20%. Today – 100%.
For the fastest possible service, even the rest room has been converted into a ticket sales point, but even there a queue immediately appears.
We asked the station staff to show us a bomb shelter where people could hide in the event of shelling or an air raid. It turned out that the information about the presence of a bomb shelter was somewhat distorted: it was not even provided at the railway station. In case of danger, employees will evacuate people to the underground passage and to the storage room. As you can see, the storage room itself can accommodate no more than 100-120 people in standing mode.
No more than 500 people can take shelter in the underground passage, without access to water, without basic amenities, and without an air conditioning system. According to employees, this crossing can withstand a direct hit from a shell, since high-strength concrete of the M-500 grade was used in its construction. But everyone has hope that they won’t have to test its strength.
And one more disturbing information. Yesterday and today tickets were sold only until June 15th. Tickets for all destinations are no longer available for sale after the 15th. This is perceived by many as the start date of the assault on Donetsk. The explanations given in the help sheet are unclear, which further inflames panic. Although the press service of the Donetsk Railway assured yesterday that for dates after June 15, pre-sale of tickets will begin at the end of next week: the cancellation of pre-sale is due to the need to adjust the traffic schedule.